The Road To Money
by Rubedo Kukai Jr
Summary: [Tales of the Abyss] Set right after the ending of the game, the Church of Lorelei is in need of monetary funds! Who else to get it but the one and only super duper money schemer, Anise Tatlin! Maybe now her dreams of getting rich will come true!


**A/N: Hello! This is a Tales of the Abyss story so if you were looking for Symphonia, look somewhere else! This story is set after you beat Tales of the Abyss in Anise's eyes. The Church of Lorelei is still in need of monetary funds so who else to bring money to them but the one and only cute little moneymaker…Anise!**

**Disclaimer: This will forever apply to the rest of the chapters. I do not own anything from Tales of the Abyss including its characters. Sorry, Anise. If you become rich, it doesn't exist…**

**First Step: Break something extremely expensive.**

I pointed up to the sky and spoke with pride. "…and that's how the Planet Storm disappeared to bring us to the peaceful era we live in today without fear of sinking into the Qliphoth."

The group of people all marveled at the story of what I had just told them, the journey me and five other people went on to save the world. You see, they are tourists and I am their wonderful super guide! And I'm only 13! How cool is that!

"Oh! That was so wonderful!" A tourist exclaimed. Tears were streaming out of his eyes. "That tale was just so amazing! It's so awe inspiring!" I cupped my hands in front of him and the Gald just came pouring in.

I smiled widely. "Thank you for your generous donation!" I looked at the rest of the group. "Who else wants to help the Church? You'll be well rewarded if you help those who are in need!"

Everyone in the group gave up a moderate amount of their money to me and I quickly stuffed it in a big bag that was on Tokunaga, my doll that I always carried on my back. The tour group slowly dispersed after that and commented on how knowledgeable I was.

Yeah! I rule.

Someone called out to me when I had finished packing the Gald. "Anise!"

I turned to see Florian coming towards me. He was Ion's replacement as Fon Master since he…died a while back.

It's just so…sudden, you know? When someone dies…it doesn't even feel real. But I was slowly getting better. I know that Ion didn't want me to be grieved over his death for long so that's why I've been working every day…to keep my mind off of it.

Anyways, I'm glad that Florian was perfectly okay about me giving tours. There were some members of the Church that was against it, but a good word from him shut them up good. It was a little helpful that he was naïve to almost everything. Not that I took advantage of that…

He eyed the bag that I was holding and asked, "Working hard again?"

"Yeah!" I said, hoisting the bag over my shoulders. "Got a pretty good tour this time…what are you up to?"

"I was going to go get a new stain glass window for the church. The old one isn't really needed anymore more so the Church decided that we get something more relevant to the present time."

"I see…that's a good idea." I thought back to the things I had said about our adventure. "We don't want to end up living by the Score again."

Florian nodded and then said his goodbyes.

It took me awhile to carry my earnings to my room since it was so heavy. Maybe I should've gotten a strong man to help me…maybe if Luke was here…

Oh, my dear Luke! How I've missed you so! It's been two weeks since I saw you last…I've been writing letters on end to you and you've only replied to one of the thirty six patron letters I have sent! Oh well, at least you are a patron…unlike like some other people I know.

The Colonel says that he needs to save his money for his "retirement" fund because of his "old age." That's patooey! I will get you Colonel…to pay me…I mean the Church in a hefty amount. Heheheheh…

As for the others, they donated small contributions every now and then when they had the chance. I didn't mind that. They sometimes sent me money seeing that I am able to sucker them into it. Not that I like doing it mind you…I just like creating sad stories to see if they would work. I know it works on Guy very well…especially when children and ladies were involved.

I decided to go find my parents and started searching. They weren't in the library and I didn't see them outside like they usually were…so they must be in the chapel.

I opened the door and accidentally hit someone with the door. This caused him to throw a big jar that he was holding towards the stained glass window a group of people were carrying including Papa and Mama.

**CRASH!**

Everything just seemed to halt to a stop as everyone just stared back and forth between me and the stained glass window. I scratched my chin with my index finger slowly. "Uh…oops."

Papa just exploded. "ANISE!!! You just wrecked the new stained glass window we just bought for the Church!"

I assumed the most innocent face I knew to calm him down. "I'm so sorry…"

"Does 'Sorry' buy you that stained glass? No!" Papa scratched his head violently. "Now we have to pay for this too…on top of the gambling dues…"

"Gambling?" I asked. It was against the Church policy for any of its members to gamble but that might explain why Papa never returned for a couple of days from time to time.

Papa stammered for a bit before thinking of an excuse. "Uh…I mean…for our rent!"

I saw straight through his lie. "But the Church lets us stay here for free."

Papa threw his arms up into the air. "That's beside the point! Since you broke it, you have to pay for it!"

The rest of the group nodded. Mama didn't say anything.

The mere thought of me paying for damages scared me. I just wanted to break down and cry at that moment. "But that means all of my earnings…!"

Papa shook his head. "Even with all of your earnings, it wouldn't be enough to pay for my dues as well as the stained glass window!"

"But I had 2, 452, 317 Gald saved up!"

Everyone dropped to the floor.

"What?"

Papa got up and swept himself. "Well…that's about enough to pay for my fines…" He stammered and then pointed to the wreck. "But there's still 5 million Gald left unaccounted for the stain glass window!"

"Anise sweetie…" Mama said. "I think that you should go raise that money."

"Why me?! I wasn't the one who threw the book and broke the window!"

"But you did instigate it."

Papa nodded. "Mama's right. Now get going! I'm forbidding you to come home until you return with that 5 million Gald!"

I put my hands on my hips angrily. "What?! You can't do that!"

Papa and a group of big guys grabbed me and threw me outside the church. "I just did. Now go get that money!"

The doors to the Church slammed shut and that's how my money making scheme began.

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A/N: Heh, first Tales story…hope you enjoyed. Crazy father being a bitch…and stained glass windows being easy to break. What crazy money making scheme is Anise going to pull now…?


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